Sweet Publishes Personalized Medicine Book for Healthcare Providers

Kevin Sweet (43221), an associate clinical professor of human genetics at The Ohio State University Medical Center, has co-authored a book which aims to enable healthcare providers to anticipate emerging developments and to stay current with the fields of genetics, genomics and personalized medicine.

“The ability to understand and translate genetics and genomics into clinical practices are a key to developing and implementing personalized medicine,” says Sweet, also a genetic counselor at Ohio State’s Center for Personalized Health Care. “Already, personalized genetic information is being used to improve outcomes in drug response and the treatment of several diseases, including breast cancer.”

His book, The Busy Physician’s Guide To Genetics, Genomics and Personalized Medicine, was written to guide physicians in understanding and applying principles of genetic and genomic medicine, and provides an in-depth review of classical genetic principles and their application to personalized medicine and common complex diseases. In addition, the book highlights progress personalized medicine has made in several fields, including cancer, cardiovascular (heart) disease, Alzheimer’s disease, type 2 diabetes and macular degeneration.

According to Sweet and co-author Ron Michaelis, personalized medicine has the potential to improve effectiveness and safety in all medical professions. However, few physicians feel confident in their ability to fully apply principles of genetics and genomics, upon which personalized medicine is based, to their practice.

Sweet is co-investigator of the Coriell Personalized Medicine Collaborative at Ohio State and directs the Family HealthLink project, an online tool that assesses risk for cancer and coronary heart disease. He has published 45 peer-reviewed articles, directed the revision of Counseling Aids for Geneticists, 3rd Edition and was co-author on three chapters of the World Health Organization’s Classification of Tumours of Endocrine Organs. He is also a founding member of the National Society of Genetic Counselors Personalized Medicine Special Interest Group.